Life with the Matooz

2011-08-23T23:20:00.000-04:00

We have a first grader! I seriously can't believe it. School started last week and we were all a bit apprehensive about how it would go.

I was worried that he would have a hard time since he didn't know anyone, but he's fitting in like a champ. He was dead set on wearing all black. He wanted to look like a Ninja. I talked him down to just his shirt. ;)

It's a 35 min bus ride each way (which is actually pretty good, considering how far away it is) and he's now lobbying for a Nintendo DS since "everybody else on the bus has one Mom!". We'll see. I don't know how that would work out.....maybe I could let him earn it?
On the first day I drove him (mostly so that we could stop and buy tennis shoes on the way, this kid grows like a weed!). Daniel was excited, but I think it was a bit too early for Sam. lol.

Every day when he comes home I ask how his day was and he says, "great!" I'm so happy this school seems to be working out so far. One thing I really appreciate is that they use a lot of positive reinforcement, which every 1st grader needs! Last year we had some issues and he got so discouraged. We're crossing our fingers and toes that this year is a good one!

Father's Day

2011-06-26T22:50:00.000-04:00

I've just been informed that neither my Mother or my Mother in law check Facebook, so I need to start updating here a little more often I guess. ;) Anyways, here are my little boys with their Daddy.

I made them matching ties again this year and I think they look mighty dapper. ;)

Things here are good. Very crazy, but very good. We move this week, so you can only imagine the level of insanity in my home right now! I'm excited to post about my many projects as soon as life settle down a bit.

2011-06-11T13:21:00.002-04:00

aaaaaand WOW. I have been b.u.s.y.! I (obviously) have a ton to blog about.
First off: the Match! We got to take Sammy, Daniel was still at school.

It was held in a ballroom on campus and as you walked in it was a sea of green (St. Patty's day) and the Black Eyed Peas was blaring (Tonight's Gonna be a Good Night) I've never witnessed such palpable anxiety from so many people before! No one could wait until they knew where they were going. The program was short, but not short enough! (nothing could have been short enough at this point!) Finally it was almost time to open the envelopes (everybody opens them at the same time all across the US) Sammy was the only baby who got the privilege to go up and grab an envelope. ;) (he was definitely being a daddy's boy that day)

Everybody picked up their sealed envelope and returned to their seats waiting until the allotted time to open them.... that was the worst! Holding it in your hand and not being allowed to look! I can't even tell you how many people I saw trying to hold it up to the light to catch a peek, lol. There was no way you could have seen through it. I know. I checked ;) At exactly Noon the air horn blew and everyone tore into their letters.

It was quite a display. Some people squealed, a few exited quickly in tears and the guy behind us took one look, grunted, and said, "Let's go get drunk." I obviously felt so sad for those who were upset, but the rest of it was pretty much hilarious.

We are thrilled to be going to Indianapolis and the more we find out about the area, the more excited we get. I still remember when he came home from his interview there how excited he was about the program and facilities. We can't wait to get all settled in and explore our new home!

Tomorrow!!!

2011-03-16T20:36:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya, tomorrow, you're only a daaaaaaaaay aaaaaaa waaaaaaaaay! (sing it with me now! I watched that show WAY too often as a child and blame all of my quirks and eccentricities on that adorable little orphan Annie) (P.S. side note, I just have to say how proud I am of myself for spelling eccentricities right the first time, without spell check! yay, go Mommy brain!)
I have to say that Bryan and I have done pretty well with the cursed wait for our Residency Match results. But now that it's one day away, it's killing me! I, by nature, am a planner and a thinker and a researcher. None of which I can do without knowing what (or where!) my subject is! We could be moving in as little as 6 weeks so I'm rarin' to go! We could end up (in no specific order) here, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Dallas, Albuquerque (which I've also learned how to spell thanks to my research for the match), Salt Lake City, Phoenix or Tucson! So we could be moving 2 miles (if we match here) or 1,900 miles. How do you plan for all of the variables? The answer I finally came up with: you don't! I've just been de-junking, which really means finishing up all of the projects I'm working on and tying up loose ends. It feels good. (when I finally find the time, I'll post some of my projects on here, you can't wait, right? ;)
This whole process has been a little crazy and we are excited to have it over with. I finally realized why I'm so anxious about it all today. It's because, no matter the outcome, we will be surprised. I've never not kind of know how something would turn out before... and I kind of don't like it. lol. Luckily, we chose to only interview at programs where we knew we would want to live. So, no matter the news, we will be pleasantly surprised. Keep your fingers crossed for us, and hopefully I'll be a less spastic version of myself tomorrow. ;)

Matched....

2011-03-15T11:46:00.002-04:00

We got a one line email letting us know that we did indeed match for residency. Yay! Now we can stop having completely irrational nightmares of not matching, and start having completely rational ones about so many other things! lol. Seriously, the NRMP (the people who run the match) are just big teases. Just tell us already!!! We find out Thursday, on St. Patrick's Day. We typically have a visit from a Leprechaun, so I'm thinking I'll have to combine the two somehow....
In other news, I find it completely ironic that this very week a book I've had on hold for months at the library finally arrived (digitally). It's titled, "Matched." I saw it and had to laugh out loud.

Incidentally it was a fun book, worth the read. It does have it's similarities to the other Teen Distopia books that are so popular right now, but it was different enough and interesting enough for me to thoroughly enjoy it and I'm anxiously looking forward to the next two. (and the movies... I think I heard that Disney has already bought the rights?)

Stars Fell on Alabama....

2011-03-15T11:00:00.000-04:00

I have had that song stuck in my head ever since we entered the state of Alabama two weeks ago! (If you don't know it, it's a Jazz Standard from the 1930's and is lovely... I specifically LOVE the Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong version... while you're at it, buy the whole album, you'll thank me, really)
We took a quick trip down to visit Bryan's brother, Brad, who's just started flight school at Ft. Rucker. We had a great time and the kids played together so well. It was sad to leave again. :( We took it easy and mostly just let the kids and boys (Bryan and Brad) play. Sam and his cousin Kate are only 4 weeks apart in age and they were so cute together! Two peas in a very cute pod. Kate was very kind and shared all of her girly stuff with Sam. He was ecstatic.

We passed by fields full of Black Hawks, which was an awe-inspiring sight. (Sadly we were moving the whole time, so I wasn't able to catch any phenomenal pics.)

As we left Alabama I asked Daniel what his favorite part of the trip was and he said, "playing Lego Batman with Uncle Brad." Which totally took me by surprise because he had so much fun playing with the girls, maybe it was playing on the huge screen, or maybe it was because it was his cool "army guy" uncle. Maybe next time we'll just let them play Wii through the Internet instead of driving for 12hrs? (lol, totally kidding!)

One of the funniest things that weekend was when the kids played super heroes. They all got their pillow cases and flew around fighting all the injustice and bad people around. (mainly the two babies ;)

Then I noticed Jane had some sort of growth.

Me: "Jane, are you hiding a secret weapon?"

Jane: "No, I'm pregnant!" Like, duh, you dummy.

Me: "A pregnant superhero????"

Jane: "Of course! I've got to have my babies sometime! Superheroes are people too, ya know."

So there you have it. Super Heroes are people too, and my 4 year old niece knows that life doesn't stop for babies.

The highlight of the trip was our day at the beach... but that's another post!

Pinteresting....

2011-03-10T17:23:00.000-05:00

I have a new addiction. It's not like I needed a new addiction, but here it is. I really think I might be in love. It's called Pinterest. It's a bit like Tumblr, for those who are familiar with that, only it's way better. (sorry Tumblr people! :( )

I am the type of person who likes to bookmark things for reference later that I don't necessarily need now. You know, like little girl clothes, house ideas, etc. But the problem with bookmarking them on your computer is that 1) you could lose it all if your computer dies (especially if 5 computers in a row die on you!) and 2) everything is listed by page title or blog title so you really can't remember what's bookmarked until you click on it.

Enter pinterest. Your bookmarks are all stored online and by picture! You can separate them into categories and view everyone else's bookmarks to get more ideas. I LOVE it!

To use the site you have to have an invitation right now. (I think it's still in beta) I've still got a few invitations I can send out, so let me know if you'd like one!

Our little Padawan...

2011-02-08T12:19:00.000-05:00

While we were at Disneyland we decided to check out the Jedi Training event. We didn't really know much about it, but Daniel loves ANYTHING Star Wars, so knew we had to go. We ran into someone on a ride who told us that if you have something that makes you stand out it makes it a lot easier to get chosen. So we stopped by the make your own Light Saber station and made him a huge, double-bladed, purple Light Saber!

It worked and he got chosen! (they chose about 30 kids out off all the children there) For a while he just stared at/ fought his own shadow, silly kid.

He was totally in awe of the Jedi trainers, lol.

The kids trained for a while and then, just when you think it's over, part of the stage rises up out of the ground and out comes Darth Vader, Storm Troopers and Darth Maul!

The kids all got their chance to defeat either Darth Vader or Darth Maul. Daniel beat Darth Maul soundly! ;) At the end he said, "It's a good thing he didn't move much! I totally defeated that guy!!! Now I can totally defeat them anytime!" I honestly think this day was the highlight of his life so far. Love him.

Disneyland

2011-02-07T12:19:00.001-05:00

Disneyland! We went to Disneyland on Christmas eve just like we did 2 years ago. It was a wonderful, magical day. On our way in I saw a scene that reminded me of the last time we went. Daniel sure loves his Grandpa!
2010 2008

It started out as a cool morning. Daniel had absolutely refused to bring a coat, so we bundled him up in Sammy's blanket.

Here is the stroller brigade! They had all just barely turned one and did really well all day in the strollers.

We spent the morning doing some kiddie rides (Dumbo here)

And then Daniel and Caleb got brave and tried some roller coasters. It was Daniel's first time on a roller coaster and he was pretty nervous, but he LOVED it in the end.

Daniel got to attend the Jedi Training event and we stopped to build him his own Light Saber! He was ecstatic. It was double bladed and as tall as his Uncle Tim! (about 6'3"?)

We always love the Pixar Parade, we got there early and staked out our spots. (we were surprised at how ruthless Disneyland patrons could be! ha ha)

Sam adored the Parade from Daddy's shoulders.

He also thought it was hilarious to smack Uncle Brad in the face over and over. Might have had something to do with his reactions. lol :)

We really loved the Disney Parade that ended with Santa telling all the little girls and boys that he would see them that night. ;)

The fireworks seemed to be extra special that night. So beautiful. This year it was super crowded, I was kind of hoping for some bad weather so no one else would be there, but instead we had to suffer through a gorgeous, sunny day. Can't wait until we can go back someday!

Don't Mind too Much....

2011-02-02T22:00:00.001-05:00

This is one of the few reasons I would be happy to leave Columbus.... ICE STORMS!!! The Ice Storms here are amazing and consistent. (in that you can count on at least one every year) This year isn't nearly as bad as the last two years have been (yet?), but school/work have still been cancelled for the last two days and you can literally ice skate out the front door.

They say we've gotten an inch this time.... can you see how thick it is on the ground?

I couldn't resist this shot of Frosty's nose, brrr he looks cold!

It sure can be beautiful sometimes, I'll never forget how gorgeous the golf course next to our house is when the sun is setting and it's covered in ice. It just sparkles and glows. Too bad I'd have to risk life and limb to get a picture of it!

The view out my back door where you can see how thick this stuff is!

So, just a note to all of my friends in warmer climates... enjoy your wonderful weather and try not to rub it in too hard, we've still got at least another month of this stuff! (Hawaii has never sounded so good :)

Shawnee State Park

2011-02-02T16:05:00.002-05:00

We had kind of an odd fall this past year. There wasn't a huge onslaught of color like I'm used to, it seemed like random trees here and there would change and fall before the other trees got around to changing. I was bummed because this was most likely our last fall here in Columbus and it's my favorite season. To solve it all and to put a smile on my face my sweet husband piled us all in the car and we headed south. We stopped at the Shawnee State Park and ventured around for some fall foliage. We hit a jackpot! Shawnee is such a beautiful park full of ponds, vistas and a random cozy church nestled in the trees here and there. It's 63000 acres, so we didn't even see most of it, but it was incredible. After our 2 hour drive, Sam was ecstatic to get out and move around!

He'd just barely started trying to walk, so he got to try out his shoes for the first time. Look at those little feet in those serious sneakers! Don't you just want to gobble him up? The sun was starting to set, so the world turned even more golden. Daniel and Bryan were just in time to get onto the water in a paddle boat.

Sammy and I spent some time on shore checking out the leaves and acorns. Pure bliss.

Keeping the Doctor away...

2011-01-22T11:58:00.007-05:00

with an apple a day!

We were lucky enough to go to the Apple Orchards twice this past fall. This particular orchard is just south of Amish country, so it's always a scenic trip. The first time we went was for a class field trip. Sammy and I went to help wrangle children and got a fun tour in the process. We learned all about how Johnny Appleseed was a real person and that he planted a lot of the apple trees in our area. (pretty cool if you ask me)

They also took us through their sorting house. Daniel is obviously paying rapt attention. ;)

We ran into Daniel's friend Isabelle, who lives down the street and is in his Primary class at church. You'd think they haven't seen each other forever. lol.

We had so much fun picking the apples off the trees.

They were Golden Delicious apples, and honestly, the best apples I've ever had in my life! (and this is coming from a Washington girl!)

We need a little work on our form.... you're technically not supposed to take the branch with you ;)

Sammy took his job as overseer very seriously....

We also went back out with a group of girls from the ward. This picture is missing two kids and one adult, me!

We found the cutest little apples that were just Sammy sized, he held them all day. Too precious.

We slipped around back of the apple orchard where there was also a pumpkin patch to explore. I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to get a Fall picture of the boys, but they had other plans. This was as close as it got to perfection:

Because this is what all the rest of them look like...

We stopped and had a picnic, but the kids preferred to wait it out in the car where they were parent free and warm!

We had a blast and were fully stocked in apples for almost two months! No small feat with Daniel around, I think he honestly thinks that eating apples will keep the Doctor away. ;)

The Man in Red

2011-01-19T09:20:00.001-05:00

While Bryan's family was all together during the Christmas season we took all of the grandchildren to see Santa!! On the way in the kids got to pose with Gru and his minions. (If you haven't seen Despicable Me, it is so cute and worth your time!) I love the super cheese!

The line was long, but the kids were excited to meet Kris Kringle! I don't know if he was as excited to be accosted by 8 kids under 6 yrs. But we made it work. (with help from Aunt Amy ;) I think this is a picture we'll love forever!

Four Eyes..

2011-01-18T11:55:00.002-05:00

Daniel has been squinting for the longest time so I set up an eye appointment for him. The soonest they were able to get us in was 7 months later! What is this? Canada??? (lol, just kidding, I love Canada) But miracle of miracles they called and were able to fit him in a whole month earlier. Yay. I had 20 minutes to get ready, pick him up from school and get over there. Daniel was a bit worried about the appointment and I was too, since I hadn't gotten a chance to prepare him for it. But we really shouldn't have even given it a second thought. They had him looking at hot air balloons and other fun things, while he kept giggling and saying, "this is a fun Doctor's visit!" Finally the Doctor gave his verdict: Daniel is "very, very far-sighted." I never would have guessed, I totally thought he was near-sighted. That's why we pay Doctors the big bucks! ;) We ended up buying a pair of glasses through their office (they forgot to put the anti-reflective coating on, which makes pictures very tricky!) and we ordered 2 other pairs through Zenni Optical , which was awesome. We paid $15 a pair and got them in 2 weeks. (I highly recommend getting extra pairs with little boys! We're already down one pair and it's been 2 1/2 months!) Daniel has loved his glasses. Our drive home from picking up his first pair was so funny! He kept reading all the signs and saying, "I didn't know that was a book shop!! Mom, let's go buy some books! There's a Toy Store!!!! Mom! Can we please go to the toy store?!?!" I had no idea how much of life he was missing out on. ;)

Tears...

2011-01-13T06:33:00.001-05:00

The other day I was busy in the kitchen when Daniel said some unkind things. I called him in to talk about it and with tears running down my face and dripping off my chin, told him how hurtful his words were. He looked at my face, got really quiet, said he was sorry and went to time out. (I think he was scared straight.) Then I went back to chopping my onions.
Some people call it manipulation, I call it brilliant parenting. ;)

YIKES!

2011-01-11T12:54:00.001-05:00

It was a crazy non-stop holiday season for us. We are still just trying to catch our breath and recover from it all. Add on top of that pretty-much never-ending computer issues (yes! MORE!) and you have a pretty good reason not to blog. ;) We now are set in the computer department, (knock on wood.... knock knock knock! ) And are back and almost into the groove. Interview season for residency is nearing an end, Daniel is back at school and we're all over the flu! Yay! Anyways, I just wanted to say... I'm back!!! (and I've got TONS to blog about!)

Sammy's first REAL swing ;)

A Fun Way to Spend a Saturday!

2011-01-10T12:01:00.003-05:00

My friend Kacey asked me if I'd be willing to help her with the flowers for stake conference. I jumped at the chance because I've always loved arranging flowers. I especially love it when my creative outlet can be on someone else's dime ;) We met early on Saturday and started whipping up some arrangements. She'd bought a lot of flowers and cornucopias and we foraged in the trees out back for branches of berries. We arranged the two cornucopias, one tall center piece and two smaller arrangements that were farther out to the side. I had a blast and I LOVE the fall colors. Just wanted to document. :)

A Quintet

2010-11-03T10:14:00.001-04:00

I can't belive how much Bryan's side of the family has grown this year! Within about 6 months we added 5 new members! 3 babies were added with 6 weeks of each other in Nov./Dec. and two new in-laws married in during the month of May. It's been an exciting year and we love each of our new additions!!!

We grabbed a quick family picture after Sam's blessing. It's amazing what a difference a few months and 5 people make!

This was us last summer:

Through this all I've been super impressed with Bryan's parents. They've taken it all in stride and loved every minute. It takes some serious flexibility to make everything work, and they did! I'm betting we'll never add so many so quickly again, so I just had to mention it!

I guess it could happen..... lol.

Keep Getting Better

2010-11-02T10:09:00.000-04:00

Our best days keep getting better. You know how you say, "This is the best day of my life, nothing could ever be better than this!" Only to be proven wrong down the road when something does? I personally don't mind it. Our best days just keep getting better and better. We recently had one of those days. On September 3rd, we were (finally!!!) able to take our little Sammy to the Temple to be sealed for time and eternity as a family. It was the culmination of 5 yrs of waiting and searching for the next little member of our family. Words honestly cannot express what joy it brought our hearts. Because he is so big for his age, and because he was also older than most children in adoptive sealings (10 months), it was hard to find an outfit that would fit him and that was appropriate for the temple. We finally found one that I loved and that would work in the heat. It was a 24 months size! :o

The boys were little angels, you could tell they felt the spirit of the day. We were so happy to have so many family members there with us. It made it all the more special to share it with them.

After the sealing we were able to take Sam to Bryan's parent's house to give him a name and a blessing. Even more family members and friends were able to join us which was wonderful!

Sam ate up the attention and did so well. He's really a people person. ;) He and his Uncle Erik are pals.

At the end of the day he just snuggled up in his Daddy's arms and crashed. I don't think he's ever slept so well!

As we were leaving the Temple that day, Daniel said "Let's come back here, I want to do this again!" I just smiled, I was feeling the exact same way. The Temple Worker who had helped with the children said, "Yes, you need to bring these little boys back with a sister soon." Lol. I can't guarantee a sister, but I can promise we'll work on coming back as a family again sometime soon.

It was a perfect day and that brought finality to the adoption for us. He's ours. He's finally a part of our eternal family. He was so worth the wait and the anguish of the journey to find him.

FINALLY Final!

2010-10-11T16:36:00.000-04:00

(Originally written August 12, 2010)

We got a call today telling us that our adoption was finalized today! I'm feeling both elated and like it's a bit anti-climatic. Normally when an adoption is finalized you go to court and at the end of the hearing the magistrate declares it final. Because of all of the hiccups and delays in our case (thanks to an incompetent case worker in Georgia, long story) we went to court on June 23rd, but it wasn't able to be finalized until today. We are so excited to officially be a family of 4!

June 23rd Court Hearing:
When we went to the court house for our finalization hearing we had to go to down town Columbus and up to the 22nd floor!
We waited in the court room for a bit while everything got squared away.

We had a tired baby on our hands. We hoped he would sleep through the proceedings, but he perked right up as soon as there were people in the room. (He's definitely a people person!)

While we waited, we enjoyed the view of Columbus from above through heavily tinted windows. It was a hot, sunny day. You don't get to see a bird's eye view out here very often. (No mountains to look down from :) So this was a treat for us.

Everything went great, but sadly halfway through the Magistrate let us know that we wouldn't be able to finalize that day. :( We were bummed as we'd planned to go to the Temple with Sam 2 weeks later. Regardless, it was still a great feeling to have the Interlocutory Decree in our hands. Our Lawyer asked us a bunch of questions about our family, how we felt about adoption and how we felt about Sam. Bryan was very eloquent and I wish I could have recorded it. I just tried not to cry through my answers.

When everything was said and done we were able to take pictures with the Magistrate. She had Daniel come right up and sit in her chair. He thought it was the coolest thing ever.

Everyone took turns holding Sam. Here he is with our Ohio caseworker, Spencer. We can't say enough good things about Spencer. We were so lucky to have him on our side and working for us.

I ADORE this picture of my two boys sitting in the Magistrate's seat. Precious.

So happy he's officially our boy: Samuel Owen John!

Keep Calm and Carry On

2010-10-06T13:59:00.001-04:00

When things were getting tough with the whole fertility treatment/adoption trauma, I saw this print. Along with probably 1/3 of the US I had to have it. It helped me remember to take deep breaths and continue on with life. I got it and slapped it up on the wall. I needed it up asap, no matter how I did it. So there it sat for 2 1/2 years until I finally got around to making it cute.

I knew I needed to paint the mat or do something with it. I've had some linen sitting around waiting for me to use it, so I did! Here's the method to my madness.

I laid the mat out on the linen and cut the linen about 5/8" of an inch larger than the mat.

To adhere the fabric to the mat I used some photo matting paper that gets sticky on both sides when heated, but fusible interfacing/web or stitchwitch would work just as well. All I did was iron over the mat making sure to avoid ironing over the opening and holding the fabric taught while doing it as well. After it cooled I flipped it over and cut from the center of the opening to each corner.

Then I folded the fabric and adhesive to the back.

When I folded it back I checked to see if any of the flaps were too long and trimmed them.

I wanted them to be just short enough that they wouldn't over lap the side edges when they were pulled back.

I secured the flaps by working on the folded edge first, folding it and pulling it taught while I applied the heat. Once the edge was nice and neat, I worked on the rest of the flap from the folded edge to the tip.

Before I secured the side edges, I snipped the corners to avoid excess bulk. I didn't snip all the way to the mat as I wanted to avoid fraying on the corners. I cut extra strips of the adhesive paper for the edges and secured them exactly how I did the flaps in the center.

And TADA! 10mins later I had a beautiful mat!

Meet the newest additions to the family!

2010-09-30T16:18:00.000-04:00

Daniel has been wanting a pet for the longest time. I've been thinking we'd get a dog someday (something so cute about a boy and his dog) and keep telling him that we need to wait until we have a house. Then something made me think of the birds I had when I was younger. I loved watching them hop around and listening to them chirp and sing all day. They were small and didn't take up much space and were easy to take care of. So I thought, "what the heck?" I bought a cage and supplies off of Craigslist. It was next to impossible to find any of these birds locally, but I finally managed to find someone who breeds them (who happens to live a half mile away from me). So without further ado, meet the newest members of the family. Sorry for the bad pictures, the birds are very flighty (ha ha), and I'm shooting through the bars of their cage...First is Mr. Chirpy (nicknamed George...) I love how uniquely colored the male Zebra Finches are!

And here's his mate Mrs. Betsy. Yes, Daniel did name them... with a little help from me. He originally wanted to call them both Star. Yikes.

And here are the 5 (!) eggs they've laid since we got them. We're going to let them raise a clutch or two just so Daniel can learn all about it. Their eggs are tiny and so cute. (only about 1/2 inch long) By my calculations, they should be hatching next week! Can't wait to meet our little chicks!

Melt My Heart...

2010-09-24T16:28:00.001-04:00

Sending my firstborn to all day Kindergarten was a pretty big deal to me. It has it's pluses and minuses, but overall, I think it's been really good for both Daniel and me. It's also led to some tender moments that just melt my heart. Yesterday as I drove Daniel home* from school he asked me if I could give him a picture of me to take with him to school. He said "Mommy, I just miss you so much when I'm at school and I want a picture of you to look at so I won't miss you so much" Then this morning we were about to leave the house when I gave him a kiss goodbye on his cheek and he said "oops, I think I missed ya there" and then gave me a smooch on the lips. LOL. He's too too sweet. I know he won't be giving me kisses much longer, but I hope he stays this sweet while he grows up. These are the moments Mommies live for.

*Daniel rides the bus in the mornings, but I pick him after school because the bus takes 2 HOURS to get him home. We live .2 miles from the school! (we unfortunately can't walk because of some raised train tracks and no sidewalks, etc) Pretty crazy, huh?

Cool Site

2010-09-24T09:27:00.000-04:00

I found this site the other day that I'm really excited about. I've been wanting to work with Daniel on his penmanship at home, but haven't had a great way to do it. With this site you can input what ever words/letters you'd like to work on and it will create a worksheet for you. I just thought this would be perfect for my friends whose kids are just starting to write, etc.

2010-08-31T09:00:00.000-04:00

Daniel started full day Kindergarten! I can't believe he's old enough to go, but I guess they have to grow up sometime. :( Daniel was thrilled with his new lunch box. This was the only picture I was able to get with him not holding it in front of his face. lol.

At his school they have to wear uniforms, so we spent a week shopping all over for both supplies and clothes! I ended up getting an awesome deal at Old Navy where things were on sale and I had a 30% off coupon. Gotta love those sales!

As I dropped him off he was nervous and I kept having to remind him to answer the "good mornings" all the teachers were sending our way. His anxiety lasted until we reached the door of his classroom and then he didn't even look back. sniff sniff. I had very mixed emotions as I walked to the car. I was excited for him, but sad that our endless days together are over. I don't know if he'll ever stop being my baby.

After I dropped him off I ended up running a bunch of errands and marveled at how much easier they were to do without a 5 yr old. I think I'll be okay after all. ;) When I picked him up from school he hopped into the car and said, "That was awesome!"

Life is good.

2010-08-30T23:01:00.001-04:00

Playing catch up. I have had such a hard time getting anything up on this blog! I have been through a billion hard drives and I swear the Geek Squad knows me by name. (not a good thing!) I'll never again buy a brand of computer I've never heard of, no matter how nice it is. Anyways, on to life! We've done a lot of traveling this summer (again) and have done a ton of fun things. One of the milestones we passed was Daniel lost his first teeth! The two bottom front teeth. Each time the tooth fairy brought him a crisp, brand new dollar bill. After the first tooth fairy visit Daniel crawled into my bed in the morning crying and angry. I said, "what's the matter honey?" "The tooth fairy took my tooth and didn't leave me anything! She just stole my tooth!" I told him to go back into his bedroom and look around a bit, that I was sure the tooth fairy would never steal. ;) I heard him whoop in joy and he ran in to show me his loot. Then he got thoughtful and quiet, I asked what was wrong again.... " But Mommy! I really really wanted a 3 dollar bill!"

What made it even more fun was that Sam had just gotten his first two teeth, the same ones Daniel lost. He had a lot of fun pretending that Sammy had taken his teeth. We were VERY happy when Sam's teeth finally broke through. He is a very mellow, calm baby, except when those first teeth came in! Boy did we hear it! I've never seen a baby scream like that! As of now he's gotten 8 teeth in the last 3 months! (the last 4 have been SO much easier, thank goodness!)

Easy Boy's ties...

2010-08-08T01:26:00.001-04:00

I promised I'd share a link and a tutorial about my boys' ties, so here it is! While what I did wasn't the cheapest way, it was definitely the fastest and easiest. If you've got more time (and patience!!) here are some good tutorials to sew your own ties: purl bee:little boys tie, purl bee: Father's day tie, necktie ages 4-7. Since I decided to do this project the day before Father's Day, I had to do what was quick.

I used the tutorial on this site: seilifestyle , with some adjustments, for Sam's (the baby's) tie. I left the back tail of the tie longer and didn't stitch it into the knot. This made it so that I could slip it out of the knot and wrap it around his neck instead of trying to shimmy over his head each time. Once it's around his neck I just tuck it back through. The elastic ensures that when he tugs on it, it doesn't come undone. I hope that makes sense?

For Daniel's tie I kind of winged it. I took what was left over from making Sam's tie and went to town. The first thing I did was to open the tie by snipping and pulling out the thread that was holding it closed on the back. (isn't that a snazzy ironing board? I'm trying to make due with it until we move...although I'm considering making a new cover for it anyways. Just pretend you can't see it :)

Then I pulled out the stiff inner lining (this is what gives the tie it's shape)

Because I was in such a hurry and Daniel was already asleep so I couldn't measure him, I took one of his ties that already fits him well and traced the width from bottom to top.

Trim along the lines and insert it back under the outer lining of the tie.

Pin it in place using an all metal pin. (all of this fabric is super slippery!)

Fold the sides of the tie back up snuggly against the stiff lining and iron it in place. Remove the pins. (don't forget!)

Once you're happy with how it's ironed into place take a needle and thread and secure it using a hidden stitch. That's it! You're done!

Father's Day

2010-06-23T00:06:00.001-04:00

For part of Bryan's Father's Day I made ties for the boys. Daniel is always trying to be like his Daddy, so I thought I would make it a bit easier for him. ;) I love my cute boys.

Yoga Baby

2010-06-12T16:11:00.002-04:00

Modified Downward Dog...

Sammy is bound and determined to start crawling. He scoots everywhere and can get at anything he wants, but he wants to really crawl. He spends a lot of time on his hands and knees and usually does this pose for moments at a time. This boy makes me laugh. :)

Our Graduate

2010-06-03T10:36:00.002-04:00

Daniel had his Pre-K Graduation (already?!?!? I know, crazy, huh?) the other day. He stood on stage with all the other Preschoolers and sang at the top of his lungs. You could totally hear him over all (like 40-50) the other kids and his dance moves were killer. They had a nice little program and at the end he came to give me this.

He's a pretty dashing and debonaire 5 year old don't you think?

At the end of the program he turned to me and said,"Mommy, I'm really going to miss Isabelle. She's moving in 3 years!" I leaned over and said, "Honey, you won't be here in 3 years, we're probably moving in 1!" His eyes got big and I could see the wheels start churning. He's decided that it's okay if we move as long as we get a big house with a yard and a basement. We'll see kiddo, we'll see. Anyways, here he is with Isabelle, sadly, this is the best picture I got of them. :(

We loved his teacher this year. He called her "Miss Debbie" and talks about her non-stop. She taught him his letters and how to start putting together and reading words. She taught him Bible stories and how to count to 100. Most importantly, she was patient with him and loved his enthusiasm. :) We will miss her!

Daniel was sad to be away from his friends for the summer, we had a lot of fun with these kids. (and isn't he cute?)

New Favorite...

2010-06-02T11:46:00.000-04:00

This is my new favorite picture...

Sam is learning to pucker!

6 months!!!

2010-05-29T21:23:00.001-04:00

I can't believe that our little Sammy is already 6 months old! He's been an absolute joy every day and we can't imagine our lives without him. We are so grateful to have him in our lives and are so thankful to his birthparents for giving us the chance to have another son.

We honestly couldn't love him more.

He's getting to be such a big boy! At his 6 month check up Sam weighed 20 lbs and was 28 inches long, which puts him in the 95th and 90th percentile respectively. The doctor was suprised with how busy and capable he was. She mentioned that I'm going to have my hands full! (which I totally see coming ;) )

Just this last month Sam has gotten his two bottom teeth! He is so unhappy while he's teething, so we were all VERY happy when they finally poked through. He's sitting pretty much on his own and only topples sometimes. He's started solid foods and LOVES it. He's a great eater.

Sammy has also started scooting around! He can get clear across rooms and get to pretty much anything he wants with a series of rolls and scoots. His latest thing is to get up on his hands and knees and rock back and forth. Any day now we're gonna have a crawler. (Heaven help me!)

2010-05-28T15:11:00.000-04:00

I'm finding it harder and harder to keep up with all of my blogs!!! I've been posting like mad to Sam's blog (for his birthparents) and always forget to add to this one. lol. I think I might start combining my blogs.... you'll just have to pardon my *dust* as I move stuff around. Thanks!

The Reception...

2010-05-24T15:15:00.000-04:00

The reception was just as beautiful as the wedding. The flowers were gorgeous.

Daniel was in love with the chocolate fountain (you can already see the chocolate on his face and the reception hasn't even started yet) I only caught him with his finger in it once. ;)

There were two tables of refreshments. Everybody loved the italian sodas. (this is our cousin Diana, she's one of those few people who still look gorgeous even when they are very pregnant, isn't she?)

Maren and Lucy got a hold of a marker and tried to make themselves look pretty by putting on "mascara." (what wedding would be complete without little kids making some trouble?) I was actually really impressed that they didn't get any on their dresses!Near the end of the reception there were fireworks by the pool.I was nervous about how Sam would do during the fireworks, since Daniel hated them until he was 4. (we're talking HATE, screaming, crying and hiding, lol) but Sam thought they were so great. He sat and laughed and giggled while he watched. Daniel's obviously gotten over his phobia too. :)We all got to pelt them with rice on their way out, that made it official!When people started heading out I was finally able to get a couple of quick shots of the reception area (the back yard ;) )

I had put together some floating groups of candles. Sadly, there was too much wind during most of the reception, but they were beautiful by the end. Next time though, I'll be anchoring them throughout the pool so that they don't end up like this every half an hour. (and next time I'd probably use lanterns so that the wind doesn't blow them out... details, right?)

After everybody left I went to put my poor poor feet in the pool (I'd forgotten to bring dress shoes to utah with me, so I had to buy a new pair the day before the wedding and didn't get a chance to break them in. ouch!) My little niece Maren came to join me for a bit.

She had really loved helping me put flowers in the pool earlier, so I would take some of them out and let her throw them back in.

All of a sudden she perked up and said, "I know just the thing!" And she ran off. I heard her yelling, "Shoo Shan! (my name) Shoo Shan! I found more flowers for us, I found more flowers for us!" If you know Maren, who know just how excited she gets, lol. She came running around the corner with this:

She'd found the bridal bouquet and was heading straight for the pool. It was too cute. The girl who had caught the bouquet was hot on her heels. (and there were adults around the pool since it was open). So she never would have made it, but she was sure excited about it. Gotta love these cute little kids. ;)

A Beautiful Day

2010-05-19T06:08:00.002-04:00

We recently got to spend some time in Utah for my Brother in Law's wedding. It was such a perfect, beautiful day.

In the morning there was a beautiful breakfast at one of the old Eccles' mansions up in Ogden. It was here that I discovered that I'd forgotten the memory card for my camera! I was so sad to miss the photo opportunities. At my wedding we forgot to have anyone take photos of the luncheon, so I wanted to make sure that someone snapped a few for them. Luckily, there was a real photographer there. ;) (He and I even had the same camera, lol) Anyways, it was a beautiful place full of beautiful people. We heard some great stories and ate such good food. Tim's younger sisters sand "Longer" by Dan Fogelburg while his brother accompanied them on the guitar and his sister Lara and I sang "Belle Nuit" while his mother accompanied. It was a lot of fun. From there we all met up at the temple for one of the most beautiful ceremonies I've attended. Megan is such a sweet girl and we are so excited to have her in the family. While we were waiting for them to come out of the temple I mentioned to Bryan's uncle (his dashing, debonair and SINGLE uncle ;) that I'd forgotten my memory card. He pulled out his camera to show me that he'd forgotten his battery. His memory card was the same kind I needed, so he lent it to me! Yay pictures! The weather that day was perfect, so we all just waited out in the gardens. Lucy was in love with this statue, especially the little kitty on the old woman's lap, she kept giving him kisses and petting him. She eventually ended up on the woman's lap.

Sam had a blast all day. He made so many new friends and got to drool on so many new shoulders. (he was teething)

He especially loved Bryan's cousin Hannah.

When he was throughly exhausted she gave him a bottle, but he was still restless because it was too bright. I went through my bag and this was all I could come up with. ... at least it's clean, right? Am I damaging my children? lol

Daniel also made new friends and played so well with Megan's niece Olivia. She was such a cutie and was the Maid of Honor at the wedding. So sweet. Here she is waiting for Tim and Megan to finally come out of the temple.

I love this shot! I think it shows how most couples feel once they've finally made everything official. They looked that happy all day. :)

All of the nieces and nephew ran up (with Caleb leading the charge) to give hugs and loves. Daniel immediately yelled, hey, where are your kids??? (Because, you know, once you get married you have kids, right?)

I love her bouquet. Love her gown. Love her hair. So pretty.

Olivia did her Maid of Honor duty by helping Megan with her train.

While everyone was gathered taking pictures, Daniel rummaged through my purse and found a squirtgun he'd stashed there a while ago. I, of course, had no idea it was there. He ran over, filled it up in the fountain and started squirting his cousins.

This is him about 30 seconds later when I made him empty it and give it back to me!

Once Sam was out, he was out for good. We took turns lugging him around and letting him snuggle down. We sure love our baby.

All the kids took turns playing in the fountain. And all the adults took turns pulling them out again. ;)

Daniel and Caleb are two peas in a pod. Find one of them and you've found the other. Here, they were hiding behind a planter to try and scare us. Funny little boys.

To be continued..... the reception....

Utah Friends....

2010-05-17T19:44:00.001-04:00

Here is a deal you should not pass up. I LOVE this girl's photography and it's for a fabulous cause. If I was in Utah I would jump at this in a heart beat. There are only 2 more slots left, I'd love to see some beautiful friends of mine up on her blog. :) ( I also LOVE the location she chose)
Go here: http://thewrightfampics.blogspot.com/ and scroll down to the Candyman post. Such a sweet story. I would include some examples of her work, but don't want to infringe on her copyright, so you'll have to click on over!

Captain Big Brother

2010-04-22T11:06:00.000-04:00

These boys sure do love each other. Because our church had General Conference on Easter Sunday (the most perfect way to spend Easter!) I had the boys wear their Easter outfits the week before.

Aren't they handsome?

Daniel would give him kisses all day if we would let him. For some reason, this picture reminds me of how little Daniel still really is. I always think of him as so old and big compared to Sam, it's good to remember that he's still little too!

After we snapped a few shots of the boys together, Daniel let Sam play with his Easter goodie bag from school. Sam was fascinated by the crinkling sound the bag made.

He was happy and contented for a good 5 mins with that bag. Within mere seconds he went from that to this:

Absolutely inconsolable crying and screaming. We've had a lot of that lately. Darn teeth make his life miserable. I keep having dreams that he wakes up with a mouth full of teeth and all done with teething. Sad that those are my best dreams.... Anyways, still no teeth.

Enter Captain Big Brother to the rescue. (and no, I didn't have to ask for a hero pose, this is what every picture these days looks like)

This is literally seconds after the crying shots. Give Sammy his big brother and all is suddenly right with the world. Daniel has an arsenal of songs and dances that keep baby ( and Mommy!) happy.

These little boys sure love each other, there is no doubt in my mind that they were meant to be brothers!

A Bike!!!

2010-04-09T14:58:00.000-04:00

So, Bryan and I have kept wanting to get Daniel a bike for his birthday, but it's in Decemeber and we're always in Utah for his birthday and Christmas. As much fun as it would be, I just don't know if they'd let us bring it back on the plane! ;) Anyways, this spring we decided heck with it, a boy needs a bike! So we broke down and on the first warm day went to buy him his bike. Unfortunately, everyone else had the same idea, because all of the bike were gone! 2 days and a bajillion phone calls later we finally found a bike in his size that was in stock and it was even GREEN! Happy day. When we bought it there was an old man there who made sure we knew the trick for training wheels. He said that every few weeks you raise one training wheel about 1/4 of an inch. It gets the child used to not relying on them. Eventually, they don't touch the ground at all and they're riding free! I thought it was such great advice. I wasn't really looking forward to the dramatic street scene when we took them off. :)

We picked him up a great helmet that got wonderful reviews (this picture was before we fit it correctly) Razor V-17 Youth Multi-Sport Helmet (Black Gloss)( a couple of the reviews are crazy!) I think he felt kind of cool because it was more of a skater helmet and not you traditional gargantuan kids bike helmet. He keeps asking if he's "stylish."

We got him all put together and he was off!

He needed some help learning to peddle. We soon figured out that even though we used one of these:

he never had to pedal on his own. So it's taken him a little while to co-ordinate all of that. :)

He's lovin' it!

Can you tell he's feeling pretty cool? He's talking to the cute girl upstairs, showing off his new bike. :0

Since it took us a few days to get the bike by the time we went out to try it, the weather had turned and it was freezing! Daniel refused a coat but Sam was NOT happy with the chill.

2010-03-30T11:09:00.000-04:00

This picture perfectly describes my life right now!

So Big!

2010-03-28T00:31:00.000-04:00

I just had to document this for myself. :)

I finally had to face the facts (and the bare belly and ankles) and admit that my little boy needed a larger size of clothing. Now, little boys are constantly growing and expanding, so this really shouldn't have been a shock to me. I've seen it coming inch by inch by inch. Literally. I looked the other day and Daniel has grown almost 4 inches in a year!

I'm always amazed at how quickly they grow!

So why was this time any harder than the others have been? Because my first baby has moved from the children's section to the big boys section. There will never again be a "T" after his size and all the clothes look so grown up. I'm thinking his Elmo shirt will be on it's way out soon. (he's not "cool" enough anymore:( ) It's funny the things that make you pause as you raise a child. Some things find greater meaning and pull in your life and others fade away.

Sigh, why can't they stay little forever!

2009 in Pictures! 11

2010-02-20T22:31:00.001-05:00

November was a whirlwind of a month for us! In early November we got a real treat, a visit from Grandpa! Daniel was ecstatic. One of the first things we did (after Schmidt's and the JC Penney Outlet, of course! ;) Was go to the Zoo. It was a beautiful day to go check out the animals. I had to renew our membership and while I was inside Daniel gave Daddy and Grandpa a show. He loves to dance, but strangely only in public places. Don't know if it's adorable or embarrassing yet... ;)

We were lucky enough to visit on a day when there weren't lines to see the baby elephant.

I just loved watching the Mama Elephant take care of her little baby. Every creature on earth loves their baby.

We were lucky enough to catch the tiger while it was having Lunch outside. I never really feel 100% safe looking at these guys, lol. This guy was romping all over the place just showing off how strong and fast he was. I think he was just taunting me. Nice kitty....

After the Zoo Daniel went to a little girl from school's birthday party and the boys went to the OSU football game. GO BUCKS!

I made two nearly identical quilts, one for Sam and one for his Birthparents. I got so close to finishing them before I had to leave for Tennessee! I ended up finishing the binding for Sam's Birthparents in the Hospital. I thought it turned out beautifully. I finished Sam's when we (finally!) got back to Ohio.

Dan (my Father-in-law) left early in the morning on the 16th and Carol (my Mother-in-law) flew in later in the afternoon. (Thanks SO much you guys!) So that she could take care of Daniel while I was in Tennessee and Bryan was in Ohio in school. After we found a rental car (it was close!) I finished packing up the car and left for Tennessee. To be honest, I was scared to death. I had no idea what to expect. I arrived LATE that night (next morning, really) and stayed at a Hotel. Early the next morning I met Sam. :)

Bryan and Daniel came down a few days later when he was able to get time off. (it's such a weird experience trying to get time off for a child's birth who could "potentially" be yours.) This one of my favorite pictures from our Hospital stay.

We got to take him "home" (really to a hotel in-state) a few days later.

On the 24th Sam's Birthparent's signed away their legal rights. It was a very bitter-sweet day, knowing that our joy came out of their sorrow.

We had a "Stranger Thanksgiving" as Daniel called it. Some wonderful members of our church invited us over for Thanksgiving so that we wouldn't be stuck eating McDonald's or cereal. We had only spoken with them on the phone and hadn't meet face to face, so Daniel called them our strangers. We ended up meeting some wonderful friends and eating some fantastic (!) food. It's one of the best Thanksgivings we've ever spent. (Thank you Flemings!!!)

Daniel and I got very adept at Hotel living. He discovered what Hot Pockets are and that their sleeves make awesome super hero cuffs.

Daniel found his dream car outside of the dollar theater. I think he had dreams about it for a week after we saw it.

One of the weekends that Bryan was down with us we ventured out in Nashville. We found Centennial Park with it's full scale replica of the Parthenon. (you know, the one in Greece...) You can see Bryan, Daniel and Sam next to one of the pillars... that's how huge it is. It was really cool.

2009 in Pictures! 9-10

2010-01-21T15:24:00.001-05:00

September

At the beginning of the month we were still in Utah. We got to do a little babysitting of our cute nieces. (they could be models, couldn't they?)

Bryan's extended family had a mini-reunion at his parent's house.

There was lots of swimming...

the boys camped out in the yard...

smores around the campfire... (Daniel was not a fan of the smores, so he just had graham crackers, lol)

and some more night swimming followed by Golf for the boys the next day. It was a blast and needs to be a yearly tradition!

We also got to see an awesome game between BYU and TCU. Go Cougs!

October

In October the leaves finally started to change and Columbus was GORGEOUS! It's definitely my favorite season here in Ohio. I got to take some pictures for some friends of mine one day and snuck a shot of Daniel with all those leaves!Here are just a few shots I took. I also took some one a different camera with a lense that blurs the background, (they were my favorite of the bunch) but those photos all went when my computer died. :( We still got some good pictures though, it's not hard when the family is as cute as they are!

I started working on two quilts using this fabric, which I LOVE. (it's so beautiful in person!)

We topped October off with lots and lots of Halloween celebrations. Daniel wanted to be Yoda, which I also attempted. Although I still had to sew him into it every night. :0

2009 in Pictures! 6-7-8

2010-01-20T15:54:00.002-05:00

May and June were the months of our great trek. We drove our poor little car from coast to coast within 10 months. This is a map of all our galavantings. Good thing we love a road trip, eh?

View Larger Map

June
Bryan studied for, took, and passed his boards! Yay Bryan! He had to go back to Ohio for the test and some classes. So Daniel and I drove up to Washington to hang out with my sister.

Daniel, Nick and Zoe

We also went through another failed adoption in June. Obviously not fun, and obviously, no pictures. :)

Bryan and I got back to Utah just in time to join his family on a trip to California and spent some time on the beach. So wonderful!

We saw a balloon man...

and some beautiful scenery!

When we got back to Utah we got to spend some time with Bryan's maternal Grandfather and his wife. I always love our visits with him, and this time he told us some fun family stories.

We took some time (on a VERY hot day) to take some family pictures. These are some of my favorites.

And of course before we could leave to go home we did some more... swimming!!!

On our drive home we spent a day near Moab at Arches National Park. So beautiful! I think everyone needs to go hear before they die!

We also stopped at Dead Horse Point which is near there. Amazing views! (I'll have to find/post pictures later!) I've lost most of my pictures for July and August as my hard drive died on me! :(

August found us making our way BACK to Utah to help welcome my parents home from an 18 month mission to New Zealand. Daniel has become quite the traveling pro!

Great minds think alike. Daniel and his cousin found out they had the same shirts! (Daniel thought this was so so funny!)

And he and his cousin Jakob discovered that the other loved lego star wars just as much as they did. (they had a blast)

Think they're related?

We had my family over to Bryan's family's house for a swimmig party.

And the girls all spent a day at the spa! It was awesome. I sooo needed a massage! (this is my neice Becca, she got a mini facial)

2009 in pictures! 4-5

2010-01-19T18:31:00.001-05:00

April

In April we had a short break, so we ran over to Kansas to visit my sister and her family and my brother and his family. (so handy that they live so close to each other!)

We got to play with our cute new (ish) nephew,

and Daniel got to play with a bunch of his cousins. He was in heaven!

My brother acted as our tour guide and took us to some of the church historical sights. It's always a sobering experience for me to see how much those who came before sacrificed so that we would be free to practice our religion. Amazing. I'll never get over the trees that covered the temple plot at Far West. Insane, I can't believe that the men had to work so hard to clear those for the site. I would not want to step anywhere near where one of those spikes could be!

We found the grave yard where some of the saints were buried. It was really interesting to note that they were buried right along side the people who drove them out. I guess death makes all men equal.

After Far West we traveled over to Haun's Mill. They tell you not to go when it's rained unless you have four wheel drive. They weren't kidding. We slid all over the place in our little Honda accord. I was convinced we'd end up stuck and with no cell service. We drove back to Columbus (10 hrs away) and I washed the car twice and all the dirt still didn't come off.

It's a very sobering experience to walk that ground. What a sad situation.

We also spent an evening at the Plaza. Such a fun place to go for a night out.

With the weather warming up, we had fun playing at the parks

and having Easter Egg hunts.

We hit the zoo one last time before we left town. Columbus seriously has the best zoo!

Daniel posing as the stinkiest flower ever. (a little too fitting :) )

Daddy's almost as big as a Tiger!

May

Daniel discovered McDonald's Ice Cream cones. Love at first sight.

We had fun watching hot air balloons and guessing where they would land.

We made our way to the west coast by way of Kansas. Of course a light saber battle ensued. ( I love little boys!)

When we got to Utah the first thing we did was hop into the pool, Look at that little tadpole go!

Thomas was in town so we trucked on over and spent the day in little boy heaven.

2009 in Pictures! 1-2-3

2010-01-18T14:23:00.002-05:00

I thought it would be fun to do a quick year in review through photos. Enjoy!
January-
We finally got to see a bunch of cousins that we hadn't seen forever. It was such a fun evening and it was so nice to catch up with everybody. Hopefully next time I won't wait so long to see them all again!
Kourt, Travis and Will

Emery, who you might recognize from way back here

The twins, good friends of mine since birth. The one of the Left is Nate and the one on the right is John. (he he, I wrote that for my mom, who still has problems telling them apart!)

My cute cousin / college roommate Erin with her cute little girl...

whose hair I just LOVE! Seriously, I would just sit and play with it all day, irresistible!

When we got back from California there was a ton of snow to play with! A bit of a shock to the system, lol.

February

I love it when our Amaryllis finally blooms! Bryan's paternal Grandparents give us one every year and it always gives us so much joy when it finally blooms!

I started writing/creating patterns. One of my first ones was a bottle cover. We've switched over to glass bottles, so I thought this would be really useful... maybe once we start making more outings?? We'll see.

I started a quilt for Daniel. He got to choose the fabric and the colors. I've gotten pretty far on it, but definitely need to get back to work on this one!

I spent a lot of time sewing. I made a bunch of bibs for my sister and some for me to just have on hand. Love making bibs. So relaxing.

Daniel started taking piano lessons. He really liked it, but it didn't last long. He was still a little bit too young to pay attention for 1/2 hour. I'm wondering if we should try again now, but for like 15 mins at a time? Anyone have any ideas what we should do there?

Daniel learned how to write his entire alphabet and his name! He was so proud!

March

We learned all about primary colors and secondary colors with food coloring and pop bottles.

A leprechaun visited us!

We spent some time in the German area of Columbus. This is by far our favorite part of Columbus.

Schmidts's

This is the crazy big bookstore that has over 30 rooms of books. You can find anything here! So fun.

2 Months!

2010-01-17T23:39:00.000-05:00

I cannot believe that our little Samy is 2 months old already! I've got so much blogging to catch up on, but can't seem to steal myself away from his scrumptious little cheeks! I'll be back soon, I promise! (ICPC still has not cleared, which I'm not going to talk about because I'm tired of whining! lol)

Forever Thankful

2009-12-01T00:06:00.002-05:00

I'm totally bummed that I didn't finish my month of Thankful posts. I still have a lot that are in the "draft" stage and may post them later. It's never too late to be Thankful, right? You may be asking yourself why I couldn't keep up with such a small task. I have asked myself that same question time and time again. Maybe I've been having too much fun with the freedom afforded me by a second car? Oh yeah, the car! What a wonderful creation! I'll just show you some of my favorite things about this car. First, as you can see it is immaculate! I always worry that buying a used car means that it'll be all gross and stained. Not so. We've lucked out twice with both of our cars and I am sooo soo happy with this one!

It's got all of the standard amenities of an Odyssey. It even has the little flip up cup holder in-between the two front seats. Love that.

All the knobs and dials work and again, they are so clean!

But my all-time favorite feature on this baby is the sliding doors! I'm sure you think I'm a bit of a geek for loving these so much, but I really do!

I mean, how great is it that you can be walking with your arms full and press a button and by the time you get there it's open and waiting for you?

See what I mean? Look ma' no hands!

Oh, uh, oops.... I forgot that was in there.....

Nothing to see here folks.... just uh, keep scrolling.....

Wait, what? You've already seen it, so I have to tell you what it is?? Really?

You sure you want to know?

This folks, is a baby. OUR baby. And he is most definitely the reason I didn't keep up on my Thankful posts this last month. ;) Can you forgive me?

Because once I saw this face I was a goner.

We still have until 5pm December 4th until he's definitely ours. (they've already signed, it's just an additional waiting period)

We are waiting (definitely waiting, I'm stuck in Tennessee forever) and praying. If you'd like to add your prayers to ours I know it couldn't hurt. ;)

Samuel 11/17

We had the best Thanksgiving ever, with so much to be greatful for and will be forever Thankful for Sam and his loving Birthparents.

Thankful #10

2009-11-10T13:12:00.001-05:00

I am thankful for our library! We have one of the best library systems here in Ohio. When I first got here, I couldn't believe it. They've got an incredible inter-library loan system and I have never searched for a book that I couldn't find. It has helped me out so much in our fertility pursuits and our journey through adoption. Whenever a new movie comes out, I can reserve it and as soon as it's available they send me an email. We have seen so many movies for free! It's awesome.

I am constantly amazed by the amount of information that is at our disposal. I always think about the vast amount of effort and struggle that people have put forth in the past to make this information available for me to gain just by reading! It almost feels like cheating, doesn't it? I will forever be thankful for the efforts of others that make me a happier, healthier person. I so admire people who have a gift for writing. Beautiful writing resonates with me just like music does. I love that the written word still gives space for interpretation. There is no inflection or intonation given by an audible voice. It can transport you into worlds and situations that would never be possible in real life. Words have a certain magic and power to them I think. I am so grateful that I am (for the most part ;) ) literate and able to feast on the beauty that others create.

Thankful #9

2009-11-09T13:45:00.000-05:00

I am grateful for a fully functioning car! I'm probably going to jinx myself by saying this, but I am soooo thankful for reliable transportation! I get to go and do so many wonderful things because of it. I can only imagine my pioneer ancestors marveling over the fact that I can run to the store, the library and the fabric shop all within one hour! (ha! If only I didn't always spend so much time at the fabric store this would be true!) Right now I am especially thankful that we just made the leap and are now officially a two car family! Whooo hoooo! I'm pretty impressed with us being able to tough it out through 2 1/2 years of med school with one car. (if I do say so myself... ;) ) But this year it just wasn't working. Bryan has such odd hours all the time and I'd have to wake Daniel up waaaay early in the morning to go. He's started not being able to go back to sleep in the mornings once he's up and sometimes he wouldn't be able to go to bed early enough to get enough sleep. I was wrecking havoc on his behavior at school and his attitude at home. ( he honestly wasn't too too bad at home, he just knew which buttons to push) We were able to find a good deal on a Honda Odyssey and jumped at it. It still took tons of red tape and tracking down paperwork to make it all happen, but it's finally ours! Bryan and I can finally both go somewhere different at the same time! I've been amazed at just how liberating it all is. So yay! I'm thankful for cars!

Thankful #8

2009-11-08T12:16:00.000-05:00

I am thankful for the Internet! While I realize that it can definitely be used inappropriately, the Internet has brought so many blessings into my life. I love being able to keep up with family and friends. It especially helps me keep up with my busy mom friends who often don' t have time to chat on the phone at the same times that I have a chance to. I'm grateful for the eternal amount of knowledge that is literally at my fingertips. I would be lost without Wikipedia, online dictionaries, medical sites, etc. I love that it keeps me up to date with what's going on in the world. (my favorite news site right now is http://www.drudgereport.com/). I love that I can shop for things when I don' t have time to get to the stores while they're open. It makes Christmas time so much more peaceful! (love http://www.amazon.com/) It has a wealth of projects and ideas that can keep me busy until the cows come home! (some new favorites are: http://www.thriftydecorchick.blogspot.com/, http://www.shanty2chic.blogspot.com/ , and http://www.enchantresses3.blogspot.com/ thanks Dani!) It's also definitely helped me be a better mom to my boy. Growing up surrounded by 4 other girls, I didn't really see what my brothers were into. It's helped me learn about the vast world that is Star Wars and all about Bakugans. I am seriously so grateful for the Internet!

Thankful #7

2009-11-07T18:23:00.002-05:00

I am Thankful for adorable nieces and nephews! We just had a new addition the other day and have another niece coming in January. I am an aunt 20 times over and consider each one a blessing. I had never known how much a person could love someone elses children until they came along. You'd think that it's because they are blood relatives, but some of them aren't even blood realatives to me and it makes no difference. We are super excited about the newest addition born to Lara and Adam. They named her Josephine Marolyn (beautiful name) and she is perfect in everyway.

Don't they look happy? (they now have 3 under 3 yrs. I'd be taking a nap if I were her!) Congrats you guys!

Thankful #6

2009-11-06T23:22:00.000-05:00

I am thankful for game nights! I know this sounds kind of funny, but I really am. This last weekend we spent two evenings with different people playing games. It is so refreshing to be with fun people, doing fun things. I've noticed that a game provides just enough to keep you occupied and the topic of conversation light. It makes it so nice to spend an evening and forget all your worries. All work and no play makes Suzanne a dull girl. ;) Some fun games that we've played recently are:

Yes, that's Uno, it's an oldie, but a goodie. :)

Thankful #5

2009-11-05T08:39:00.000-05:00

I am thankful for doctors and the miracle of modern medicine. Ever since I was a little girl I have had a love of doctors. When I was about 7 yrs old I had to have a pretty intensive surgery. Even though there were complications and it took 3 times longer than it was supposed to, the surgery was a success. Without that surgery I would have ended up deaf in one ear and with 1/2 of my face paralyzed. Ever since then, I've had a soft place in my heart for ENT's. :) I am thankful for my hearing and ability to smile. (imagine me trying to get through a vocal performance major half deaf!) I am thankful for the Oncologists who saved my sister's life 6 1/2 yrs ago. (she was diagnosed almost exactly 7 yrs ago.) I am thankful for the advancements in medicine that made her transplant so much more simple. (I'm sure her part of it was still just as painful, but it worked and that's what matters, right?) I'm thankful that I don't have to fear my child getting polio or Scarlett fever. I'm thankful that my life expectancy is such that I should be able to see my grandchildren (and great grand children?) grow up. Now that I'm married to an 'almost doctor' I have an even greater respect for them. Just the sheer amount of schooling and experience they have to attain before they can practice medicine is amazing. Anyways, I am very very thankful for the field of medicine and the health that it allows me to enjoy.

Thankful #4

2009-11-04T11:09:00.001-05:00

One of the people I am most grateful for is my Heavenly Father. I am thankful that He hears and answers prayers. I'm grateful that He loves me more than I love myself and that he, in his infinite wisdom, gives us specific trials and experiences that teach and mold us. I am grateful that he provided us with a Savior and a way back to Him. I am grateful for His mercy and forgiveness. Most of all, I am grateful for His patience with His children, that He allows us time to grow and come into ourselves. I am thankful for the comfort and hope that His gospel brings me.

For Unto Us a Child is Born - Simon Dewey

I am grateful for a merciful and understanding Savior. I am grateful for His perfect example and eternal sacrifice. I am grateful for both His birth and His resurrection.I am so very grateful that He loves us so much that he gave all and waits with open arms for our return to himHe Lives - Simon Dewey

Thankful #3

2009-11-03T13:28:00.002-05:00

Another thing I am grateful for is our little boy Daniel. He is the light of our lives and the purpose for my days. I never could have guessed the sheer amount of joy and love that you can feel as a parent. He is 100% completely worthy of that love and more. I am grateful for his happy cheery disposition that lightens my days. I'm grateful for his snuggles and embraces. I am grateful that he came to us when he did. I didn't really think I was ready to be a mother so quickly after we got married. I had never been very excited about motherhood, I had always hated babysitting and never really played with babies at all. All of that changed when he was born. It was as if I'd opened a door to a room that I'd always known was there and was very familiar to me, but I was seeing it for the first time. I was a mother and forever changed. I am grateful that he has been such a comfort to us in our times of sadness and sorrow. When the first failed adoption took place it was heartbreaking. But I could come home and put my arms around Daniel and embrace my motherhood. Daniel gives me strength to do things and be someone I never could have been without him. I love love love him and am so thankful for my funny, silly boy.

Thankful #2

2009-11-02T16:17:00.000-05:00

I am grateful for my husband. I honestly would never have put the two of us together in a million years, but the Lord knew better and literally threw us in each others' paths. I am grateful for Bryan's kindness and understanding. I am VERY grateful for his patience! I can be pretty stubborn sometimes, maybe more of a passive aggressive type of stubborn (hate to say it Dad, but I totally got this from you!.... I'm pretty sure you already knew that...) and he is a pro at waiting me out and letting me come around. One of the first things that astounded me about Bryan was his kindness, it took me very off guard. I still remember arriving at the Opera Workshop where we got to know each other and he hurried over to help me with my bags. It wasn't that he liked me or anything, he helped everyone out, but it was because he is just a kind soul. I'm grateful for his sense of humor, it has helped me out of the darkest moods and made me laugh my pain away. I'm grateful that he is an amazing father. I don't say that lightly, he really is amazing. His love and tenderness with our little boy never fail to warm my heart. I've never seen a boy love his father so much and am grateful that Daniel will always have someone to look up to. I am grateful for his passion for life. For his love of sports and music that both enrich our lives. (and I'm slightly jealous of his ability to recognize music pieces, composers, artists, actors, etc. seriously, if he's heard or seen it once, he can recognize it) I'm grateful that he appreciates me and that he can appreciate things I do that no one else may appreciate. I'm mostly thankful that he chose me and sticks with that choice every single day.

Thankful

2009-11-01T23:42:00.006-05:00

My favorite time of year has finally come. To celebrate the upcoming holiday I have decided to share a post everyday on what I am thankful for. I'd love it if you'd join along on your blogs, I don't think we can ever be too thankful. (if you end up doing this, post a link to your blog in the comments so I can follow along :) )November has become one of my favorite times of the year. I love that it ushers in the Holiday season. I think it's sad that a lot of people reserve their goodwill towards others until the "pre-dictated season," but am still so thankful that they at least show it then! This season brings a focus and clarity to my life that I cannot do without. It helps bring an eternal perspective which I have honestly had a hard time with lately. I love that we celebrate it when we have an abundance, rather than when we have too little and all of a sudden realize how good we had it before. I am thankful for the warmth I feel from strangers and the kindness that is shown in random ways.
I am thankful that with the season come the beautiful sight of the changing leaves, the crisp air that requires a jacket and the crunch crunch crunch from the ground as you walk over it. I love how cozy everything becomes and how you always have an excuse to have hot cocoa!I am thankful for fall!

Halloweek!

2009-10-31T00:00:00.014-04:00

We have had so much fun this Halloween! Daniel really wanted to be Yoda, but I couldn't find a costume that we liked, so I decided to make one! I don't think there's a pattern out there for a Yoda costume, so I just had to make it up as I went along. I would change a few things if I had to do it all over again, but overall, I think it went pretty well.

Last Friday some friends threw a Halloween party. I had forgotten that we needed costumes that early so was sewing Daniel's until the last minute. Thus I just had to use my lame-o standby witches hat. Someday I'll get on the ball and we can have a cute family theme. There were games, good food and contests. Daniel loved getting to whack away at the Pinata.

Daniel trying his first Gobstopper.... can you see the beginning of his sugar induced coma coming on?Next up was Trunk or Treat on Wednesday night. Daniel was THRILLED when one of the young women painted a Yoda on his hand!After all of the chaos and craziness was over there was a bonfire out back where we all got to roast marshmallows.Here in Ohio we do Trick or Treating on a different night than Halloween. I think it's to keep kids off the streets when the drunk drivers are out, but who really knows. Anyways, we went out on Thursday. The colors were gorgeous! Poor Bryan had a test the next day and had to read his book in between each house. :)
Daniel was a hoot the whole time. He would run back to us saying, "Mommy! They knew that I'm Yoda!!!" or "I got pumpkin candy!!!" We had to remind him at EVERY house to say thank you. He could not for the life of him remember to do it. He was just too too excited. Every once in a while as we were walking he would let out a huge contented sigh. I wish I could just bottle him up! One of his very favorite things to do was try to scare the people handing out candy. Even if they had seen him start to walk up to their house, he would hide in the bushes and jump out to scare them, it was too funny. He was the most successful at this house, when they answered their door he let out a huge growl. There was a big group of teenage girls in the entry way and their mother and he scared them all. It was too too funny.

All in all it was a great, great Halloween! (and I'm sooooo glad it's over!)

Football Tickets

2009-10-23T23:59:00.003-04:00

Are any of our Ohio friends interested in buying our tickets for todays game for half price? Do you know anyone who might be interested? We have found ourselves unexpectedly unable to go and don't want our tickets to go to waste. They are student tickets and would be $31 for the pair. Let me know!

Legos

2009-10-18T18:45:00.000-04:00

Daniel's birthday is right before Christmas. We're talking just a few days before. I grew up with a sister who also has a birthday right before Christmas and I remember vividly how disappointing that was for her. Her presents were wrapped in Christmas paper and her cake was often decorated with Christmas flowers and with a Christmas theme. ( I don't blame my parents for doing this, they had 8 kids and had to work with what they had!) But I don't want my little guys' birthday to get swallowed up by Christmas. So we have decided to have a small celebration on his half birthday. (Incidentally this should work out well with our adoptive children as well. Adoptive families usually celebrate what's called "Gottcha day" which is the day of finalization and usually happens around the 6 mth mark) So, for his half birthday we went to the new Lego store here in Columbus. It was insanely crowded and full of excited little boys. I spoke with an employee and it turns out they had just opened the store 2 days before. Duh. LOL I didn't know it was that new and probably would have waited a while longer before attempting that. Anyways, Daniel made his selections (he had also earned another Lego set by completing a few milestones that we had set for him.) Just look at him with his loot. That's one happy boy there. The next day we set aside some time for just the two of us to work on putting it together.I never knew just how intricate these things are! It took me forever and was so tedious!Look at the cute little figures that come with them! Too too cute.
Lets just say that I felt like a 5 star Mom when I clicked the last piece in place. I have a new appreciation for those people who create incredible statues with Legos! That is some hard work!

Daniel couldn't be happier and I haven't had a quiet moment since! (lots of flying and shooting sounds)

Computer Crash

2009-10-17T23:18:00.002-04:00

Well, this is an old post that I started a few months ago.... sadly, it's applicable again. :( A few months ago this happened: I was mopping the kitchen floor and put my computer on the counter so that I could listen to some music. Mopping requires lots of elbow grease, that's right, I said ELBOW. I saw it fall in slow motion and land open faced, butter side down on the cold hard floor. I could have cried. I turned it back on hoping it wasn't too bad, but it just kept getting more "spectacular."

My poor, sad little computer. Luckily, the hard drive was still working! Yes! So I was able to hook it up to our TV to use it. It was a little overpowering to use it as a monitor. lol. (Also it was completely illegible, something to do with pixels and resolution) So we bit the bullet and bought a new computer. 3 months ago. It died yesterday. No clue, just died. It's off to the computer doctor today... :( hoping (pretty sure) to get all of our data back! (so so many pictures I would be sad to lose.)

2009-10-11T22:07:00.005-04:00

I know it's early, but Happy Halloween!

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Dr.'s appointment

2009-10-10T00:46:00.001-04:00

In order to start school this fall Daniel had to have a school physical. As you can see, Daniel actually loves visiting with the doctor. He tells him jokes and tickles him (yes, Daniel tickles the Dr. not the other way around...) Daniel feels like a trip to the Dr is a party and I've always been grateful for that. That all changed when he found out he needed shots. I talked with him about it and while he still wasn't excited about it, I think he would have been okay. All of a sudden these two nurses came in and very hurriedly prepped him for his shots. He started to freak out a bit, so they told me to come and hold his arms and trunk down, then they both went at it. He started screaming at the top of his lungs (which is. so. loud.) "I don't want this!!!! I don't want this!!!!!" I really think if the nurses had slowed down a bit and given him a moment to process things it would have been okay. Anyways, as we made our way out of the office everybody watched us with a sad look on their faces. Clearly they had all heard everything. It was a bit embarrassing. I really really hope he hasn't gotten my phobia of needles! Anyways, this is what I got to deal with for the rest of the day. Talk about attitude!

(This picture was taken about 20 minutes after the "incident" see how red his face still is and how mad he is??? Yeah, it was that bad.)

Arches

2009-10-09T00:44:00.000-04:00

On our drive home from Utah this summer we stopped for a day in Moab, UT at Arches National Park. (Our poor car went coast to coast this year!) The first area we stopped at was Park Avenue (because the walls of the small valley look like buildings.) There is an area farther down in this picture where the ground has completely smoothed out over the years. I decided years ago that this is what I'd like in my master bathroom someday. lol! (not this actual stone, something like it....) I'm weird, I know.
Balanced Rock

Aren't the lines and grooves in this stone beautiful? Don't you just want to run your fingers over them? Sadly, you can't traipse off the main pathways at all here because the "soil is alive" here. (It's full of bacteria and micro fungi)

This water was such a welcome sight! It was about 95 degrees with absolutely no shade in sight. A hot hot day. I really really wanted to go swimming right about then. :) (this is at the beginning of the trail to Delicate Arch)

I loved that Daniel was so pumped about the whole thing. He was excited for an adventure!

At the top was beautiful Delicate Arch. I included a picture with a person in it just so you could see how mammoth it is.

Daniel was such a trooper, he didn't even ask to be carried once.

I love my boys.

We left the park as the sun was setting. So beautiful to see the rock formations silhouetted against the darkening sky. It was really hard to get a picture at this point, so this will have to do. Just know that it was 1000 times more beautiful than this.

Afterwards we headed into town (Moab) and found a little diner on Main St. that was still open. After our hot afternoon of hiking it was heaven to get ice water and ice cream! When we got to our hotel the ac didn't work (grrr), but we were all way too tired to switch rooms by that time. That night I took my first completely cold shower. I stayed in it for at least a half an hour. When it comes to heat I am the biggest wuss in the world, lol.

San Diego Temple

2009-09-26T21:14:00.002-04:00

While we were in California we decided to take a quick trip down to the San Diego Temple. I had never been and my brother and sister in law were married there. I was amazed to find that it was much smaller than I thought it would be. It was still gorgeous and so peaceful. I took a few quick shots of Daniel. Amazingly these are the most "normal" of them all. He sure is a ham when I pick up the camera. Doesn't this smile just look like it hurts?
We got a quick family picture minus 1 sister in law. Look at all those babies! In a few short years the adults will be outnumbered!
While we were there this kind missionary (who also took our family photo) showed the kids pictures of the inside of the temple. Upon having a conversation with him I discovered that he is married to my 2nd cousin Shirley! Random, huh? She was there too, so I got to have a quick conversation with her as well. You never know who you'll run into. (especially if you're Mormon, lol)
Here's little Lucy cruising along the grounds, such a cutie pie.

san diego

2009-09-26T21:12:00.000-04:00

We had an extra day in California where the sun wasn't shining and we weren't feeling paying the high costs for an amusement park, (we had just gone to Disneyland a few months before) so we went down to San Diego again. Unfortunately I got the wrong directions so we ended up in some random part of town. (sorry guys!) Anyways, one of the first places we passed was this little Mexican restaurant. We figured it couldn't be too bad and we were all starving, so we stopped inside for lunch. Lets just say it was an "authentic" city experience. Dirty, rude service and you were kind of happy to leave. (and now that I've read online reviews I don't think I'll ever be returning.lol) We ordered Daniel a Quesedilla and had to laugh when they brought it out. It was twice the size of his head!

After lunch the little girls decided they had had it so they headed back to the condo. Bryan, Daniel, Tim and I decided to do some more looking around and found a really cute outdoor mall on the coast. I saw the cutest cast iron scottie dog! There's no way I could justify buying it, but maybe someday I'll have something just as cute. The picture doesn't do it justice. (wouldn't that be the cutest door stop??)

While we were looking at all of the shops we came across the most talented balloon man. He was making all kinds of intricate characters. We stopped and had him make Daniel a tweety bird and a sword. We had him do both, because we thought just a sword would be kind of lame, but it was totally awesome.

Daniel spent the rest of the day with his arms folded so he didn't ruin or pop his balloons. We had a fun day.

Spectrum

2009-09-22T00:44:00.000-04:00

We flew back to Utah so that we could drive our car out to California with Bryan's family. We headed down to San Clemente and got to use Jessie's family's condo again. (Thanks so much Jessie!!! It was awesome!) It was beautiful and very therapeutic for us. Whenever we're down there we like to visit the outdoor mall (Spectrum) to do some shopping and lots of looking.
(This is Maren my HILLARIOUS niece. She is so passionate about everything)

There are so many things to do at this mall. The kids all love playing in the fountains that are all over.

The carousel is a favorite too. Daniel just cooling off his piggies.

2009-09-21T14:33:00.000-04:00

This is where I take a brief pause from all of the fun pictures, etc. from this summer. Just for the sake of documenting our life, I'll mention this. I've hesitated, because last time I talked about this, some serious anti-adoption people started leaving mean comments on my blog. (Thus why I now have to approve all comments) I was surprised that I was even on their "radar" to begin with, I don't talk about the adoption process on here a lot, for that very purpose. I also wanted to mention this because I had planned on trying to visit some friends on my way from Seattle to Utah ( I hadn't solidified plans with some of them, and others I still had to call, but it was in the works) and I had to scrap those plans because of this. I just don't want anyone to feel like I ditched them, or didn't want to see them. :)

Anyways, just as Nicole and I were leaving Seattle, we got some exciting news. Bryan had received a call from someone we knew telling him that there was a couple desperately looking for an adoptive family. Bryan chatted with them and they were so happy to have found us. (She kept saying how grateful she was that her baby would have a good home) They did have an adoptive family all lined up, but they failed their homestudy (or some part of it) the day before. The baby was being born the next morning, in Ohio. (!) Luckily Bryan was still in Ohio from taking his boards and a short class. The mother wanted us there as soon as we could be, so Bryan went the next morning and I had a flight out of Boise the next afternoon as well. ( I had to book it to Boise in the morning and my brother in law and his family drove up to meet us and get Daniel and the car) It was a very stressful day. Luckily, we didn't get our hopes up too high, as we've learned before that these things don't always work out. Poor Bryan was in the hospital by himself all day and I was in the air when things fell apart. We still don't know what really happened (both parents blame the other) and we're 99% sure that the baby is now in State custody. Bryan and I spent the next two days in Ohio before we went back to Utah. (he already had a flight planned for that day) I'm really glad that I was in Ohio for those 2 days though, I think it would have stunk for Bryan to be all alone and disappointed.

So I guess what I have to say is that so far for us the road to adoption has been a rocky one, but we are still looking forward to the day we bring out next child home.

2009-09-21T14:27:00.004-04:00

Holy Gorgeousness Batman!

This lady is so talented, it kills me! Right now I'm working on a quilt for Daniel that looks kind of like this:

But as soon as that one is done I totally have to make one of these scrap quilts. I just love the little bursts of color and how they are all anchored and buffered with the white backing. I'll be dreaming of this quilt!

Projects....

2009-09-20T22:00:00.007-04:00

So I know I've been a kinda absent from the blogging world, I just have so much to blog about that I don't know where to start. I think I'll just slowly put up stuff from the summer while I continue on with everyday life, sound good? Good.
Anyways, it seems like I spoke too early with my last post. Daniel went to the first week of school and LOVED it. He did such a great job and it seems like a fabulous school. On Saturday we went and picked berries (it was awesome, more on that later) and he kept wheezing while he was running around, I thought he was just trying to make silly noises (which he is ALWAYS doing) and didn't think too much about it. Wheezes turned into coughs come Sunday and on Monday he was so sick. He had the flu. I got it on Tuesday and Bryan got a lighter version of the same thing on Thursday. Daniel and I have been holed up in the house all week just trying to breathe. I finally got him into the doctor on Thursday. I felt kind of stupid, because he was really starting to get over everything, but I try to trust my motherly intuition. It turned out that he had started to get an infection so he had a breathing treatment (read I got to hold him down while they tried to make him breathe in the smoke) and was given antibiotics. So I'm glad I went. :) Now that we're on the mend I'm back to my endless list of projects.
Bryan got me a beautiful canvas for my birthday. And for mother's day we had it framed, I think it turned out perfectly. It's much more of a gray/blue than it looks in this picture and goes perfectly in our home. I'm still moving it around a bit, but hope to find it's permanent home soon.

Now I need some help with this one. I found this bed frame for free and we need one for Daniel's room.

Now what to do with it? It definitely needs at least a new paint job. Should I strip it all down and stain it? Or should I paint it, and if so, what color? His room will have dark blue, orange and green, but I'm thinking if I paint it, I should use a neutral. Any ideas?

Childless....

2009-09-10T16:16:00.009-04:00

Daniel has started preschool and I don't know what to do with myself! After having him with me 24/7 for 4 1/2 years it feels too quiet without him running around singing his Star Wars songs and making "lightsaver" sounds for 3 hours a day. On our way out to the car I asked him to stop so I could get a quick picture... this is what ensued.

This little boy is so happy all the time and has soooo much energy! I can't help but feel a bit sorry for his teacher! As for me, maybe my house will be cleaner? Probably not. I'll probably just sew more or catch up on my shows. It feels really weird being a stay at home mom without someone to mother!

2009-09-08T23:05:00.002-04:00

I just saw the Pilot of Glee tonight and I'm in love! What a fun show. It doesn't hurt that they used one of my favorite songs... enjoy!

The Toe Truck

2009-08-20T15:56:00.003-04:00

So after my last post I had to find a picture of the "Toe Truck" for you guys. Ah the important things in childhood.

Seattle Cont.

2009-08-20T13:44:00.001-04:00

The next day we woke up and headed straight for Pike's Place Market. On our way there we ran into this guy: I lived there when he was installed and remember there being some controversy... sad that it's been up for 17 yrs and this was my first time seeing it! (at least that I can remember!)

Pike's Place was crowded like it always is, but we found an awesome parking spot. It was just down this street. Anyone who's been to Pike's Place knows what a feat that was!

We stopped by the famous Pike's Place Fish Market, where they throw the fish around, unfortunately, no one was buying any at the moment. I almost did, just so the kids could see it, but then thought it might not keep so well on the car ride home! ;)

The kids got to put money in the giant piggy bank named Rachel. All these years I knew about the pig, but never knew she was a functioning piggy bank, smart move Pike's Place! (She brings in between $6,000 - $9,000 in change a year!) I'm now going to go sculpt a piggy bank for my front yard. ;)

By far my favorite part of Pike's Place are the miles of flower shops! Walls just lined with Peonies, it was gorgeous! It's moments like these that I really wish I could smell. :)
Bouquets were only $5!!!!! I would have bought them all if I could.Everything was so beautifully displayed, I wish I could get my grocer to do this! (I'd probably end up buying a lot more produce too!) We went by one of my favorite places when I was younger, but didn't take the kids in, I'm sure it would have freaked them out a bit... they have mummys on display. (I think one's actually a petrified man, I can't remember...)

As soon as I saw this I knew we were close to the needle, this was always what I kept a look out for as a child. (This and the "Toe Truck" so funny)

We stopped at the Port of Seattle, where some of the boats from Deadliest Catch will dock. (none were there at the time, we checked!)

We walked the piers a bit with the kids. We saw a lot of interesting boats and people. This was one of my favorite boats, I just imagined some big burly, hairy man sitting there totally engrossed in the Stephanie Meyer book, lol.

We stopped and had lunch at Little Chinooks. It. was. so. good.

We had fish n chips made with Salmon! If you're in the neighborhood, you've gotta try this!

Our next stop was my Aunt Wendy's house. I hadn't seen her in 5 yrs, so I was excited to visit. Too bad we were lost. We called my sister Dani and had her talk us through it, so we were trying to figure out where we were so that she could figure out where we needed to go and we were moving at the time, so it was all a little stressful. We were already all laughing because of the situation when Daniel yelled from the back, "I have to go potty right now right now right now!" Usually when he tells me he has to go to the bathroom we've got at least 20 mins before it turns serious, but not this time. Within a minute it turned catastrophic and lets just say he was soaked! I don't have a clue as to why we found it funny, but we laughed the whole way to Wendy's. (I was very thankful that I'd packed extra clothes and that we had wet wipes and Clorox wipes) Once he was all cleaned up we joined everyone else. We were so happy when we saw that our Uncle Mike was there to and when Aunt Laurie showed up. Aunt Wendy was just so great with the kids, taking them all over her yard (it was so gorgeous, she obviously inherited my Grandfather's green thumb) and letting them pick some of her flowers. The kids loved her.

She even let them plant a flower. (I loved this, the kids were none the wiser)

While they were all in the garden we got to sit and chat with my uncle Mike. I haven't laughed that hard in a LONG time. It was so much fun. My uncle Mike is so much like my father that it's a bit crazy. (I told him that he's my Dad with no censor, and I think it's true;) ) I snapped this picture for my folks. They all say "Hi!"

(he he, Nicole buckled and bought one of the bouquets at pike's place, I was jealous, and I "got" to carry it all the way home)

This next picture is where my parents lived for a while. (There was a house there then ;) ) So weird to me that it's a public park now! It was beautiful then and it's beautiful now.

On our way home we were greeted by this scene. It's enough to make me want to move back.

The Waterfront

2009-08-13T20:33:00.001-04:00

After the park we took a drive through our old city (Kirkland, WA). It was CRAZY to see everything again. Here's the house that fit 10 of us at once! It still looks almost exactly like it did back then. I think they've put in new windows, but it's even still the same color. (oh yeah, and they have a new front door)Here is Nicole's crossing signal. When my sister Nicole was in Jr High School she got hit by a car while walking to school one morning. Luckily she was eventually alright (lots of jaw surgery and rehab, but okay) and they put up this sign just because of her. It's her claim to fame. :)We drove around for a bit and found my Grandpa's house purely from Nicole's memory. I never drove in Seattle (I was too young) so I was pretty impressed by her finding it that way. It brought back sooooo many memories. We even drove around back and tried to get a look at the yard. My grandpa was an avid gardener and we all have such fond memories of his beautiful gardens. I don't think the new owners kept it the same, but what can ya do? We stopped by my Grandparent's graves and left some flowers. I know they both would appreciate that. (I'm convinced they are where I got my love of flowers)

Our next stop was the Kirkland Waterfront. This was also where we went for Family Home Evening sometimes to feed the ducks and clime around on the rocks. It is SO much busier now and they even charge for parking! It's all getting kind of yuppie.
Daniel and Zoe had a blast throwing rocks into the water. Which I only just found out is a lake, not part of the sound!!! Duh. Growing up I always just assumed it must be the ocean. Now that I really think about it, it totally makes sense that it's a lake.... wonder what else from childhood I have wrong?!? I have no clue what brought on this expression, I'm just so glad I caught it! Too too funny.

The scenery was just perfect, we were there just as the sun was setting and I couldn't help but grab some shots of the kids. Zoe is a great little model.

Here's Daniel signing off....

Farrel-McWhirter

2009-08-13T17:28:00.002-04:00

Nicole and I both hadn't been to the Seattle area for a while, so we thought we'd make a quick trip up. Our first stop was lunch with our Cousin Thayne. The generations in my family are kind of messed up, she's my cousin, but her oldest children are my age. So growing up, it felt more like she was my aunt, but now that I'm a bit older, she feels more like my cousin. We always have fun with her and taking after our Grandmother, she gave us some delicious home-made cookies on our way out. (Seriously, they were so good, thanks Thayne!) Our next stop was Farrel-McWhirter Park in Redmond. This was our family's favorite park growing up. We went there all the time for Family Home Evening and would have a picnic, then spend the rest of the time running and playing. Nicole and I thought it was pretty funny that when we got to where the trees were thicker, both kids got a bit scared, and we both felt happy and at home.

We found some uprooted trees that Daniel thought were awesome. He couldn't believe that these were just the roots!

The kids stopped to pick buttercups on the path. I picked some too, and looking down at them in my hand was immediately transported to my childhood. Funny what'll do that to you. Just a couple step farther on the trail the kids found horses.

Zoe thought she'd show her flower to the horse.

And freaked out when he ate it! This next picture was taken 1 second after the other one, that's how fast she got out of there!

And she kept her distance the whole time after that! (I don't blame you Zoe!) Luckily the horses here are very sweet.

Climbing the stairs to what was one of my favorite activities, running around in the silo.

This is just for my siblings. It all still looks the same doesn't it? When we got back to the car these two little munchkins decided to gang up on us. They felt we didn't give them enough time to play. It was hilarious. You can't really see it in the photo, but trust me, very mature, concerned faces, lol. Too too funny!

Tyler the Great

2009-08-13T14:54:00.000-04:00

While we were in Pasco we got to go to one of Tyler's playoff baseball games. Daniel, Nicklaus and Zoe got to run around and play while Tyler sweat it out in the dugout and on the field.

Every once in a while the kids would run up to the fence and soak it all in.

We were so excited when they called on Tyler to pitch. He did such a great job.

In between watching the game and running around the little boys played catch with the kids' (Tyler, Nick and Zoe's) Great Uncle Rod.

We apparently need to work on the whole "eye on the ball" thing....

The weather was so crazy. We'd be frying one minute and freezing the next.... we wore fleece blankets and shorts!

These two play together so well. Such cuties.Tyler's team won the game by a LOT of runs and got to continue in the play offs. Great job TY!

Going to Washington and Walla Walla

2009-08-13T14:07:00.002-04:00

While we were in Utah this summer Bryan went back to Ohio for 2 weeks to take his boards and attend a short class that was required for his next year of schooling. Daniel and I decided to get out of my in-laws' hair (we stayed with them for about 2 months this summer, it was awesome, and they are the BEST hosts, but I'm sure they didn't mind a little break ;) ) And I've been dying to get back to Washington somehow, I hadn't been then since I was pregnant with Daniel and it was the worst trip ever! (I was pregnant, we got KILLER food poisoning our second day there, and as soon as we were almost feeling well enough to do anything we got the call that my grandmother had passed away in Utah, we drove home the next day... for a while there we were positive that our vacations were cursed) So Daniel and I made the drive to Washington alone. I was a bit concerned because I was dealing with this: But he was actually AMAZINGLY good for the whole trip! Bless his little heart. I had bought him a Yoda pez dispenser thinking that if he got horrible, it might help distract him to have something new. A few hours into the drive I decided to give it to him to reward his great behavior and he played with it for the rest of the drive! He didn't watch any videos the whole time! Just Yoda and some books, it was incredible. As we got into Oregon we hit an incredible storm, my pictures do not do it any justice, but it was gorgeous.
Our first day there we went and helped my sister Nicole with some errands and then headed to Walla Walla for the afternoon. (it feels kind of crazy even writing it!) I hadn't been back to Walla Walla in maybe 10 years. When we moved to Walla Walla it took a long time for it to feel like home to me, I was amazed at how much it still did feel like home on this trip. (and yet SO much has changed!) We didn't have a long time, so for the most part we did a drive by, so all of my pictures were taken from a moving car with the windows up. (windows down ='s bothered children, thus they were up!)

This church is were I had my first paying gig. I remember my choir director asked me to come and perform on a Sunday at this church, which I was happy to do. It went well, even though it was kind of weird to be a part of a different religion's worship service, it was still nice. Totally unexpectedly a few weeks later my Choir director handed me a check for my performance. It totally took me off guard, as I had never even considered that people get paid to perform in other churches! I thanked him and took the check. I never was comfortable enough with it to cash the check. It was a real eye opener for me.

This is the court house. Now, most teens don't spend a lot of time at their local court houses, at least not the teens I hung out with. lol. But I got to know the building quite well through Mock Trial. I was a witness my Freshman Year and a Lawyer my Sophomore and Junior years. We had a really successful team ( I think we took second in State one year?), I learned a lot and had a lot of fun. If nothing else, it helped keep me out of trouble. ;) (we also took our band photos here once, I stood forever on the top step adjusting and readjusting my sousaphone... ah the memories)

Who could ever forget everyone's favorite record store? I couldn't believe it was still there, and with the same name! Gross.

One of the main parks there "Pioneer Park," was designed by the same man who designed Central Park in NYC. This one is MUCH smaller, lol, but well used and loved. I sang in summer concerts accompanied by a band in front of and inside this stage. I also performed scenes from the shows I was in here. Every 4th of July this place would be packed with people and vendors all around. The fireworks were spectacular. Not quite the same show as you get in Provo, but it was closer and you could feel it. So much fun.

We drove by my old High School campus. It still looks pretty much the same, lots of buildings spread over acres of grass and streams. I was so lucky to go here. I still think what they call it sounds funny though. Wa-Hi. Makes me think of a bad martial arts movie.

Then we drove by our old house. Makes me home sick just looking at it. I guess this was the last home of my parents that I really lived in, maybe that's why. Life here was calm and beautiful. It was such a blessing to live here. (something we all never would have thought!)

It's on a corner, so we are able to see into our old yard. All of Dad's hard work still shows. They still have all of the trees he planted, and the address sign he chiseled out of stone. They even still use the garden I helped him put in. (you don't ever forget how hard it is to pull up sod!) We drove around for a bit and saw so many things that brought up memories. Walla Walla is full of old houses that I just LOVE. (It's the oldest city west of the Mississippi) I took so many photos and we had such a great time. Walla Walla is gorgeous. On our way back to the tri-cities (where Nicole and her family live) we hit a huge dust storm.

I had forgotten just how crazy Walla Walla's dust storms can be. For a while we were pretty scared, it felt like it was going to rip off the hood of the car. I thought we were handling it pretty well, but Daniel started yelling "Hold on for your lives!!!" I think he thought he was being funny, and it was after the fact, but not so much right then.

This was when it was starting to lift up a bit, can you see how the road just disappears? Scary stuff. (We obviously got home safely!)

Yay for my honey!

2009-08-13T11:58:00.003-04:00

Yay! We're half way there! Or half way to the half way-ish mark, or I guess we'll be done someday...... okay I guess we're half way to Bryan being a Doctor! Yay! (even if that doesn't mean a real salary yet, we're VERY excited for the day he's done with med school. Bryan studied his brains out for a month this summer and we found out a few weeks ago that he passed his boards!!! What that means for us is that he's done with two years of school! (Even though he started 3rd year a month ago ;) )

Leapin' Lizards!

2009-07-22T20:06:00.001-04:00

Daniel became quite adept at swimming this summer. We put a life jacket on him and he was off. (we never let him go in without an adult, don't worry!) His favorite part was jumping in and out of the water.

He even got brave enough to use the diving board. Once he started that there was no stopping him.

After a while his little cousins got in on the action, soon we had all sorts of little ones jumping and running. It was a great way to wear them all out!

Everytime we go swimming in the pool I can't get over the view, it's just so gorgeous!

Bella

2009-07-14T12:41:00.004-04:00

Wow, wow, wow. I don't even remember how I heard about this movie, I just remember knowing that it would be a good movie. I didn't know what it was about, and I won't tell you either, it would ruin it for you. All I can say is that this movie was beautiful. I sobbed at the end. (which is become increasingly common for me... hopefully it's just because I just watching more meaningful movies lately?) You can feel the main actor's conviction, he wasn't just acting, he believes in the message of this movie, it was in his eyes. Although this movie was refreshingly clean, (no language, no sex, etc) this is not a movie for children, there is one scene that would definitely bother them. I was able to watch it for free on my computer from netflix (one of there instant watches online, and I have a free months trial), and I'm sure you could find it at Blockbuster, if not at a Redbox. So go rent it, put the kids to bed and keep a tissue near. Then let me know what you think!

Skating Babies - Evian

2009-07-13T21:09:00.001-04:00

Some people think it's creepy, I think it's awesome. What's not to love?!?

2009-07-10T13:33:00.003-04:00

On memorial Day Bryan, Daniel and I were able to drive up and visit my Grandma and Grandpa's Graves, as well as my Great Grandmother and Great Grandfather's graves, in Bountiful, UT. We took some flowers to place on their graves and were happy to see that multiple others had already been there and done the same. Visiting my ancestors' graves is always a grounding experience for me. I'm reminds me not only of my love for them and my happy memories, but also of their examples and the trials they overcame in their lifetime.

Daniel, like always, had bundles of questions, so I let Daddy have a turn. ;) I think this is a fitting place for them to be buried, it's so beautiful and calm. I'm so glad we happened to be in Utah for memorial day.

2009-07-09T11:32:00.002-04:00

Because I desperately need a new lens..... Jodi over at MCP Actions is hosting a giveaway! She is holding a random drawing for a lens that I would absolutely adore. Since I also adore all of you, ;) here's how to enter...
go here: http://mcpactions.com/blog/2009/07/08/win-an-slr-brand-new-tamron-lens---18-270mm-or-28-300mm/ and then tell others about it via facebook, twitter or your blog. Easy peasy. Here's to hoping that one of you wins it, so I at least get to try it out! :)

2009-06-23T10:01:00.000-04:00

I don't think I've mentioned this, but we've spent nearly all summer in Utah. Bryan was studying for his boards and we were trying to stay out of his hair. (much easier said than done!) So Daniel and I have been joined at the hip for the last 2 months or so. Poor kid.

One of the first things we got to do in Utah was go to see Thomas!We went with all of Daniel's Utah cousins and they were all so excited to meet Thomas.
The train car we were riding in was one used in "A River Runs Through it," So one of us could have been sitting in the same seat Brad Pitt sat in while filming the movie. I hope they've cleaned them thoroughly since then. How old is that movie anyways?I kept trying to get pictures of Caleb and every time the shutter would click he'd do something like this.It took patience and skill, but I finally got one that features his baby blues. It's not fair for a boy to have such gorgeous eyes, is it? The kids got to get up close and personal with Thomas.... Daniel loved it.There were a lot of other activities to do once the train ride was over. The boys colored with chalk while the little girls blew bubbles.

There was a petting zoo with a freaky looking camel that just layed on the ground. I couldn't even tell what it was at first it looked so funny, Daniel was so soft with the little ponies, it's great practice for the distant day when we get a dog.He was super excited about a lego city that some guy had put together, complete with Thomas and his tracks running through town.He was even more impressed with the real train they had parked out back.There was a tent filled with trains and tracks for the little kids to play with. It was pure torture to make them leave. They had such a blast driving those trains all around. It cost a pretty penny, but all in all I think it was definitely worth it. Thanks Mema!

2009-06-12T09:27:00.000-04:00

He takes after his mother. Every member of my family inherited my father's glare. It's a withering look that you never want to experience. I have learned to scale mine way back, but apparently not enough?I definitely see the beginnings of my father's glare in my little boy, I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Then he does this and I know we're okay.

2009-05-26T09:33:00.010-04:00

We drove cross country from Ohio to Utah and were eternally grateful for coloring/activity books....

And a pit stop in Kansas. (This is Dani with our Nephew Nathan, David's son)Daniel was so excited to hop into the pool that he absolutely wore himself out...And crashed on the first soft surface he could find. He loves Mema's house!

2009-05-26T09:16:00.006-04:00

We had such a fun suprise the other night. Daniel and I were taking a walk around the little lake infront of our appartment when a bunch of hot air balloons decended upon us! Daniel had so much fun watching them.

He was even more excited to be outside where he could swing his new light "saver" around without me getting after him to not hit anything!Bryan took a break from studying to run around with us a bit. We were all so excited about the baby geese! They were so cute, but we didn't dare go near them, the momma goose was watching us so closely.

We love having a lake in our front yard!

2009-05-13T14:35:00.002-04:00

Okay friends, I have an extra coupon that needs a home. I'll give it to the first person who promises to use it! It's $45 off of a $100 dollar purchase and has to be used by tomorrow night. Any takers?

2009-05-11T14:36:00.004-04:00

What a difference 18 months make!

How time flies! Everytime we go to the zoo I take a picture of Daniel next to the same penguin statue. I can't believe how much he has grown!!! Pretty soon I'll have to start admitting that he's not a baby anymore. (especially once he's taller than me, that's going to happen WAY sooner than I'll be ready for it.) Darn those tall genes! ;)

2009-05-11T14:33:00.002-04:00

This is the LAST weekly free movie monday :( Over the summer they will only be monthly. So, if you want a movie tonight, use this code: 6A43JK until midnight for a free nights rental!

2009-05-04T21:30:00.001-04:00

Another free movie: BT73H9. Use this at a redbox location tonight for a free nights rental!